Weekly Wrap Up.
At the end of every week we’ll bring you an update on everything we’ve been working on.
More Games.
We have play-tested Kuiperium every day for the last 8 days. Last week we taught the game on WhichGameFirst which is officially the first video for Kuiperium. This live stream (now on youtube) includes a teach and full play through.
The following day Jules and J.R. from the Board Game BBQ Podcast played the game and Jules showed us his legendary proficiency with take that mechanics.
Over the weekend we also played the game on the Break My Game discord server. Any time I mention Break My Game I have to say that they might be the best play-test group out there. Seriously… scheduled play tests 7 days a week that are inclusive to everyone and full of talented designers. That’s where we played “Age of Ire” a really interesting arena battle game with some truly unique interactions. This is one we will be very excited to follow.
And finally we played several games with designers at GameweaversGuild like “Stricken”: an abstract deduction game that the designer describes as “not a normal game”. And last but not least we played Meridian which is a game that I’m used to seeing updates daily on discord. When I notice a designer working as hard as Ryan is to improve his game I know this is going to be one to watch.
Victory!
The victory track in Kuiperium has evolved significantly since its inception. We have always been very conservative with how we designed the abilities and interactions. Kuiperium already has a lot for players to consider and we didn’t want to detract from that experience by overloading the player in additional ways on top of the core experience. At the same time it has always been important that we give players ways to customize their own personal journey to victory. This week we decided to reformat our victory track and early testing indicates we have a lot to be excited about. No spoilers here yet but expect a lot of updates on this front in the near future.
The New Hotness.
We are really happy with the cards in Kuiperium but rest assured that we are always looking to tune and refine them to provide the best possible experience with a strong emphasis on replay-ability. Some of these cards explore the idea of “cheating” out victory points in new and interesting ways. Which new card are you most excited to play into your staging area?
SHHHH - Secret facility.
Our relationship with the Secret Facility has had its share of emotional moments. We have always adored the impact it has on the game most notably how it causes a tension between taking the opportunity that is right in front of you or choosing to instead let it pass and improve your options for later.
Unfortunately many players have a difficult time understanding the purpose of the Secret Facility until well into their first game.
I had a great feedback session with Mathew Hocker (Bittersweet on kickstarter now) this week where he explained that the issue is that the Secret Facility was not a part of our core loop. It was extra and unattached and therefore players were not considering it as they went through their options on their turn.
Ok, so we made it part of the core loop. Thanks Matt! It’s amazing that this change which provides a lot of new and interesting strategy to the game also had the additional benefit of helping to clean up our redraw action. Chef kiss!
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